I want to use the SNMP checks in GFI MAX Remote Management to monitor my Dell Remote Access Controller (DRAC), version 5. The Dell™ OpenManage™ Server Administrator Version 6.2 SNMP Reference Guide (PDF) is the main reference on Dell SNMP.
For the DRAC, the Dell RAC Out-of-Band Group section lists lots of stuff you can monitor; DRsGlobalSystemStatus (OID 1.3.6.1.4.1.674.10892.2.2.1.0) looks particularly promising—it sounds like if anything is wrong with the system (power, fan, voltage, temperature), it should return a value other than ok(3) (see the definition of DellStatus).
Note that DRACs apparently do not monitor the storage subsystem; for that you’ll need to use a separate SNMP check from the Storage Management Group, e.g. agentGlobalSystemStatus (OID 1.3.6.1.4.1.674.10893.1.20.110.13.0).
Change the Community String
For a little extra security, I want to change the SNMP Community Name. I’m talking about the SNMP community string that the DRAC responds to, not the one it uses when it sends SNMP traps.
1. First thing to remember is to log on to the DRAC itself (using its unique IP address), not to OpenManage installed on the server.
2. Click Remote Access in the left column, then the Configuration tab, then the Services section.
3. Scroll to the bottom and change the SNMP Community Name.
Note I’ll be using MAX to poll (query) the status of the DRAC on UDP port 161. If your setup also works the other way around, i.e. it listens for alerts sent as SNMP traps (UDP port 162), you can change the Community Name that the DRAC uses to send SNMP traps under System > Alert Management > Traps Settings.
DRAC II A client has one old server with a DRAC II in it. Reviewing the configuration file (RacConf.ini), it looks like the DRAC II can send SNMP traps, but unfortunately it does not seem to respond to SNMP queries.
Update March 10, 2011
Woo-hoo, my Storage Management check is working! When I restart my server, I get warning messages because some of the drives are not Dell-certified. That looks like this in Dell OpenManage:
And now I see this in the GFI MAX RM dashboard (plus I get a corresponding alert email):
